Life, Thought, Food and Travel....Life is full of struggles, but there are small happiness around you. Eat well.... for it means respecting yourself and your life.

5/30/2011

Series Shimokitazawa VII-III/ Kitazawa Kajuen ( Orchard )

Kitazawa Family !

Let me introduce Mr. & Mrs. Kitazawa and their daughters.

It was very kind of them... taking time for me. I thought children of fruit shop would always eat fruits... that' s not true.
I learned.. I don't mind to become their daughter and keep eating anything left....
( I 'm sure they do mind :-))

Nice friendly people. Oh, I have to show their lovely dogs also. Later... next post will be their turn.

How Mr. Kitazawa started his shop ?
His father had fruit shop, whose history is 55 years. Mr. Kitazawa started his fruit specialist career as the middle person of fruits market. When he was young ( he looks still young ) he didn't think he would be involved into fruit business this deep.... " I didn't imagine this....after working @ market, I started helping my father's business.... mainly in charge of gift packages such as decoration for Buddhist rites. " He also started e-commerce.... opened a shop on RAKUTEN... a major Japanese e-commerce market. ( I will introduce their website of the shop later. ) Basically, he managed both shop and internet shop.

Why moved to Shimokitazawa ?
" Well, my father's shop was located in Jujo--- one of the famous, conventional shopping avenue and Ebisu...and... another... a previous contract of the shop place was ending.... for renewal.... chose Shimokitazawa... in this area... I mean both Keio line and Odakyu line... we already had customers from internet... What I wanted to do was to sell on the net and also to sell to the customers directly... face to face. "

I totally understand. That is why I started this Series... with internet dissemination, we tend to lose opportunities to talk, sell and buy in person....

" After we came.... we felt so comfortable. Friendly people here... and the relationships with people around us reminds us our hometown.... which is east side of Tokyo. " Good to hear that. Often, people think that the west side of Tokyo is bit snobbish... not at all.

Fruits.... who eat them ?
" Our specialty is package fruits. " Yes, you can buy everyday fruits probably @ super market also, but when you'd like to send something nice to your friend or clients who were hospitalized or for any special occasion.... you'd like to choose something nicer.... with nice decoration. Mr. Kitazawa knows it.

" I always ask who is going to eat them. That's important. Men.... tend to prefer citrus such as grapefruits... also tropical ones such as mango. Surprised ? Women like apples....and citrus as well... senior people cannot handle tropical fruits. Usually. It depends on his/her history. " Right ! My father likes mango... because he was born in Manila ... he is Japanese... also he used to import dried mango !

"For example, one customer told me... he doesn't like Papaya.... it reminds him his experience during war.... that painful experience... " Then, of course, it's smell is in his memory with the smell or flavor....

" Therefore, I try to ask about the preference and also the age, gender, the condition of the person.... trying to choose the best ..."

Feel like cooking ?

Self Introduction

I love travelling, eating and enjoy local culture. In this blog, I would like to present my travel log, everyday life as working Japanese woman, how we work, eat and cook and live. I often discuss various issues with my friends both male and female. If I could share those with you, I would be very happy. How people are thinking around you in your country.... interest me also. For living, I run my company, Magnolia Consulting. We work on international coordination, translation, interpretation as well as project management, research. Mainly these works are related to media, content businesses, but we are happy to challenge new field.